The safety of students and staff at Waterford High School should be the top priority when coming in every morning. Students should feel safe. A major factor of how schools function is how the students inside feel.
Students at Waterford feel relatively safe. In the inside of the school alone we have 130 cameras. On the outside we have about 30. This doesn’t include all the extra cameras on lamp posts in the parking lot.
“I think the school is pretty safe, especially since we have lots of cameras and a school resource officer. I don’t think there is much more needed for the school to be safe, anything else would be drastic measures” says Reagan Bernardo, a junior at Waterford High School.
Other schools set an example by having resource officers, strong mental health resources, and having a trusting environment. We also follow this example and even go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our students.
“School makes me feel on edge, but at the same time I feel some sort of safety. I feel like in general we are safe, but there’s always the thought in the back of my mind that something bad might happen,” Adrianna Fernald, a senior at Waterford High School stated.
Mandy Batty, the vice principal at Waterford High School says, “I think the school is very safe. We have good systems in place with our doors and we are constantly aware of where the students should and shouldn’t enter.”
She says there are always things the school could improve: “I think there are a lot of things that could make the schools safer; metal detectors and student searches would add to the safety of the school.
She continues, “ I have the same frustration that students do not take safety seriously. Safety is a priority in our community, just the awareness of the students being safe is super important.
Our school has a police officer in the building. Officer Norm Malbourne is WHS resource officer.
“Overall I think the school is very safe, having a school resource officer and two security guards helps,” said Norm.
“There’s always something that can be done to make the school safer, one of them is making sure that people don’t leave outside doors unsecure. It will limit access to outsiders from the building,“ said Norm.
Waterford High School is a safe school. Putting the safety of students and staff should always come first when the topic of school comes up, everyone deserves to come to school and feel safe.